Mary Jo Brown: For the people, by the people

My first column in a newspaper was back in the ’90s in the Northwest Daily Press. It was called “Relatively Speaking.” Back in those days, you could mention things like who you saw out and about without having to do more than get permission from the person and sometimes not even that. Nowadays you need to be very careful whom you mention and how you do it. Because I don't get out to see what's going on much anymore, and people are reluctant to call with news, there is less and less for me to write. As a result, I had thought about writing about my experience with crochet and knitting needles, how fascinating that would be. Instead, I kept thinking about what I had seen on television last night and wondering what has happened to our country.

It seemed that every channel I turned to there was some type of discussion about our government and the many types of people it was affecting. A prime example was the turning away and, in some cases, arresting of the veterans who had fought for this country and wanted to visit the monument in Washington, D.C. This I feel was a slap in the face of the very democracy they fought for. I have seen many soldiers come home from war with the hopes of resuming some type of peaceful life and getting instead less than respect from the very government they fought to preserve. What about those troops that still are deployed and not getting paid but stay faithful to the oath they took when enlisting?

The other story that hit hardest was the one of a child with cancer who was refused care because the medical facility no longer was taking any more children in. When did it become all right to let the service men and women, the elderly, the sick and children suffer because there is a disagreement going on in the government?

Is it not supposed to be a government by the people, for the people and of the people? I think the "people" need to get back to the basics this country was founded on, "one nation under God" and quit looking for the fastest, easiest way to live in this me-first society we are becoming.